著者

乾 順子

出版者

社会学研究会

雑誌

ソシオロジ (ISSN:05841380)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.59, no.2, pp.39-56, 2014-10-31 (Released:2019-05-24)

参考文献数

33

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The purpose of this article is to clarify the changes in the division of household labor and the structure of housework between husbands and wives in Japan using nationwide survey data. In recent years, work-life balance policies have been promoted in Japan and men’s working hours have been reduced. Therefore, it is believed that the division of housework between husband and wife has become more equal. To ensure gender equality in the future, it is important to understand the factors encouraging or preventing equality in the division of household labor. In previous studies, several theories, which can be described as the demands hypothesis, relative resources hypothesis, time constraints hypothesis, and gender ideology hypothesis, have been presented as explaining the determinants of who does housework. In this study, I explore two factors—women’s work outside their home and gender role attitudes—and their relationship with the division of housework. This is intended to test the hypothesis derived from feminism and proposed by the dual labor market theory. Through analyses using the second and third Japanese national family surveys (NFRJ03 and 08), we find that gender equality in the home has advanced slightly. The increased number of wives with regular employment appears to have caused the proportion housework done by husbands to increase by 2003. However, by 2008 the gender role attitudes of wives appeared to have a greater effect on the division of housework.In summary, the position of men and women in the labor market has been made equal as a result of social change, but because of the continuing influence of gender role attitudes, it seems that equality of housework burdens does not yet accompany this gender equality in the workforce.